Part IV Reform of the Ministry of Defense
Section 2. Fundamental Efforts to Ensure Thorough Civilian Control
In a democratic nation, politics must be given priority over the military. However, recently, public confidence in
the processes of administrative works at the Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces has been lost, and
very serious issues concerning civilian control have emerged.
Given this situation, this section explains the specific content of the incidents that have occurred and sets out
the points at issue and specific efforts based on them. (See Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3)
1. Recent Incidents
1.Incident of Mistakes in Reporting the Amount of Refueling7
In 2003, the MSDF replenishment ship Tokiwa refueled U.S. vessels based on the former Anti-Terrorism Special
Measures Law. Although a division head of the Maritime Staff Office noticed inaccurate information on the
amount of refueling, he failed to report this mistake to senior personnel nor to the Internal Bureau. Subsequently,
based on the inaccurate information, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and then Director-General of
the Defense Agency Shigeru Ishiba made responses in press conferences and at the Diet.
This incident resulted in a loss of confidence in the work-process at the Ministry of Defense and the SelfDefense Forces. This is a very significant problem in terms of thorough civilian control that should be seriously
taken, as detailed below:
1)Work-processing mistakes within the Ministry of Defense, including a report with inaccurate figures and
the failure to correct the report, demonstrated that the Ministry of Defense failed to appropriately assist the
Minister of Defense, who is a core of civilian control.
2)Responses based on the inaccurate figures were made at the Diet, which demonstrates that the Ministry of
Defense and Self-Defense Forces will not be appropriately controlled by the Diet, which is responsible for
final civilian control.
3)At the same time, the fact that inaccurate information was given directly to the people through press conferences
is a grave situation that may cause damage to the basis of the issue of civilian control.
2.Mistaken Destruction of Ship Deck Log8
The ship deck log is a document that is prepared on MSDF vessels to record the activities and movements of that
vessel. Regulations require that the log be kept on board for one year after the day the log is recorded, and, after
that, should be stored for three years at the Regional Staff Office. However, on the replenishment ship Towada,
which had been dispatched to the Indian Ocean under the former Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law, a part
of the ship deck log was mistakenly destroyed after the ship returned to Japan within the period of preservation
of the document.
This work processing raises the following significant problems:
1)The supervision and instructions by a supervisor on document management on a daily basis were
insufficient.
2)The appropriate procedures for document management were not taken.
3)The preservation of the ship deck log was not appropriately implemented according to regulations.
3.Collision between the Destroyer Atago and the Fishing Vessel Seitoku Maru
It was a serious problem in terms of the crisis management that considerable time was taken to report to the Prime
Minister and Minister of Defense, who are responsible for civilian control, after the occurrence of the collision
between the destroyer Atago and the fishing vessel Seitoku Maru at 04:07 on February 19, 2008. The fact also
— 369 —
shows that appropriate assistance has not been conducted to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
2. Efforts at the Ministry of Defense
Given the occurrence of the incident of mistakes in reporting the amount of refueling, and the mistaken
destruction of a ship deck log, from the perspective of ensuring thorough civilian control, in October 2007, the
Ministry of Defense established the Committee on Drastic Measures to Ensure Civilian Control and has engaged
in discussions on what drastic steps should be taken, including thorough prevention of recurrence.
In the incident of the collision between the destroyer Atago and the fishing vessel Seitoku Maru, an instruction
concerning reports on incidents and accidents was revised on the day of the incident, and in March 2008, the
existing system was completely revised and a new instruction concerning rapid reports related to emergency
situations was issued. (See Part III, Chapter 4, Section 1)
Based on the above, in April 2008, in order to prevent recurrence of an incident like the series of incidents
of misconduct and accidents, the Committee on Drastic Measures to Ensure Civilian Control was abolished
and the Council on Drastic Measures to Prevent Recurrence of and Responses to Incidents and Accidents was
established, considering that in addition to stop-gap measures, the background and fundamental causes of the
incident should also be considered candidly to make any improvements, and that based on the harsh criticism
of Ministry of Defense explanations following such incidents, it is necessary to fundamentally discuss how the
accountability of the Ministry should be improved as required.
In addition, in the report by the Reform Council released in July 2008, a direction was laid out for the reform
at the Prime Minister’s Office and at the Ministry of Defense that will serve as “organizational reforms to ensure
modern civilian control.” Of them, measures for organizational reforms to strengthen command and control
functions at the Ministry of Defense are as follows: (1) strengthening of policy-making structures that are centered
on the Defense Minister; (2) strengthening of the functions of the Bureau of Defense Policy; (3) strengthening
of the functions of the Joint Staff Office; (4) unification of sections responsible for defense capabilities build-up;
and (5) measures in other important areas.
The Ministry of Defense will make every effort to advance these measures to realize the reform in the
future.
— 370 —